Gonzaga/Big East embers

[aburks41]

I would be okay with adding Gonzaga. They're the only basketball school out there that would probably help the BE with their next FOX contract.

But adding St. Louis, St. Marys, San Fran, Wichita St?? Gross. There is no need to dilute the conference with those programs. Would any of you be excited to play any of those on a Wednesday night at the XL? Hell no.

 

[Palatine]

Has Gonzaga looked at the price of jet fuel lately?

 

[metsfan2323]

i think from gonzaga's perspective, it is broken though. you can't have 20+ years of success (including five+ years of near dominance) and keep crashing and burning in the postseason without questioning their less-than-ideal conference situation.

as far as the move goes from a uconn fan perspective -- the realist in me is dubious, but the basketball junkie is frothing at the mouth. this is about to get crazy.

They made it to the finals last year. Hardly a crash and burn.

 

[metsfan2323]

I would be okay with adding Gonzaga. They're the only basketball school out there that would probably help the BE with their next FOX contract.

But adding St. Louis, St. Marys, San Fran, Wichita St?? Gross. There is no need to dilute the conference with those programs. Would any of you be excited to play any of those on a Wednesday night at the XL? Hell no.

I agree. If we are going to ruin the conference FOX better be paying though the nose.

 

[shizzle787]

Yes to Gonzaga. No to additional add-ons.

 

[ThabeetDown]

I agree. If we are going to ruin the conference FOX better be paying though the nose.

Yes to Gonzaga. No to additional add-ons.

100%. Gonzaga move the needle. St. Mary's/San Francisco does not. Wichita been there done that -- not going to cater to Creighton with adding them (in all honestly they might even block a Wichita addition).

 

[bendm]

I agree. If we are going to ruin the conference FOX better be paying though the nose.

this is quite obviously the only thing that matters in the end. if fox demands 3 new teams but makes it worth our while then it'll happen.

 

[AllAbout5]

Gonzaga should move its entire campus to the northeast so it’s a home run for everyone lol

 

[BGesus4]

Big East legend John Stockton

According to John the rest of the Big East should be dropping dead any second now so I’d be surprised if he supports the move

 

[HuskyHawk]

I agree. If we are going to ruin the conference FOX better be paying though the nose.

Yes. And before anyone forgets, travel includes soccer, baseball, and all the other Olympic sports. Still think Gonzaga can make that work? If it was only basketball, that would be easy.

 

[aburks41]

Yes. And before anyone forgets, travel includes soccer, baseball, and all the other Olympic sports. Still think Gonzaga can make that work? If it was only basketball, that would be easy.

It probably would be bball only. Gonzaga runs the show in the WCC. They can do whatever they want lol

 

[Billy Bob]

Having a team in Washington join the big east is immoral.

The latest IPCC report states that humans must take action now to minimize greenhouse gases if we want future generations to thrive or perhaps even survive. Last week, both poles were about 40C above normal.

Having a team in the state of Washington join the big east will significantly increase the carbon footprint of all the teams in the big east, and that, my fellow big east fans, is immoral. It's steal life from future generations.

Maybe you can bring the greenhouse situation up at Davos where all the hollywood phony celebs and "business leaders" go to on their private jets.

 

[uconndennis]

We're the Big EAST. Having a school on the other side of the country makes absolute zero sense geographically. I'd hang up the phone immediately despite how good they are.

somebody doesn't understand that the historical numbers or geographical monikers in your conference name mean less than zero

 

[HuskyHawk]

It probably would be bball only. Gonzaga runs the show in the WCC. They can do whatever they want lol

They tried to move basketball previously and the WCC told them they could go pound sand and they wouldn't keep the other programs. Otherwise the PAC would have already added them.

 

[Stinger92860]

My sources are telling me it’s a done deal and Gonzaga will agree to a new campus location for sports teams only to be located in Pittsburgh. Classroom work will be virtual, as it is now When traveling. Fox Sports will help with the relocation. When sports teams are not in season, those players will reside in Spokane for classes. Pitt has agreed to share their basketball facilities since they don’t really use them now, Facilty sharing for other sports is being discussed.

 

[BlueMAB]

You bang out 2-3 at a time.

2 East coast trips (Providence/UConn/St Johns) (Hall, Nova, Georgetown)
2 Midwest trips (Xavier/Butler) (Depaul/Marquette)
1 trip to Creighton (& play Kansas before flying home)

This is a lot more complicated and taxing than you're implying ("bang out" carries the implication it's simple/easy).

That's 3-4 weeks of classes missed. 3 different cities/hotels, multiple flights and bus trips each east coast trip,

2 East coast trips
(Providence - Monday / UConn - Wed/Thur / St Johns - Sat/Sun)
(Hall, Nova, Georgetown - see above)

I'm not saying they won't do it, but it will be taxing on them.

 

[Stinger92860]

There's a lot of smoke out there on this one.

This person is a non-Gonzaga writer:

i was told by a guy living in his Mom’s basement in West Virginia that the PAC 12 and the Big East will merge. The threat of Gonzaga to the Big East was too much for the PAC 12 and they felt they needed to move east before they become more irrelevant Than they are now.

 

[UConnJim]

I hate the idea of inviting Gonzaga. It's just too far. And, if the BE adds other teams, it's kind of hard to see what teams would move the needle.

I think an interesting area for the Big East to invest to increase revenues is women's basketball as I think the women's basketball NCAA revenue model is about to change. Too many Big East schools are coasting when it comes to women's basketball. Remember, the media rights to the women's basketball championship is bundled with other championships but this is about to change. And, the NCAA Championship game had pretty good TV ratings, so the rights will be valuable. So getting teams to the tournament and winning games will be important for revenues.

 

[aburks41]

I hate the idea of inviting Gonzaga. It's just too far. And, if the BE adds other teams, it's kind of hard to see what teams would move the needle.

I think an interesting area for the Big East to invest to increase revenues is women's basketball as I think the women's basketball NCAA revenue model is about to change. Too many Big East schools are coasting when it comes to women's basketball. Remember, the media rights to the women's basketball championship is bundled with other championships but this is about to change. And, the NCAA Championship game had pretty good TV ratings, so the rights will be valuable. So getting teams to the tournament and winning games will be important for revenues.

It's 1 road trip per year for us. That's not a big deal. We're already going out to Portland this November for the PK85 tourney. Gonzaga are the ones that would have to be okay with the additional travel

 

[98Uconn]

Not sure why anyone outside of the UConn athletic department (ie. us) cares how far it is. I don’t have to fly there to watch the game from my living room.

 

[storrsroars]

Yes to Gonzaga. No to additional add-ons.

If St. Mary's was in that deal, you consider it. Past 5 years' average on KP = 37. Zags keep their rivalry, BE gets a fairly regular tourney team (8x since 2005 vs our 10x).

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

I'm not sure you appreciate how far Spokane is. It's 1377 miles from Omaha, the westernmost Big East location. That's further than Hartford to Omaha. It's not comparable to the travel UConn had in the American. It's much, much worse.

As crappy as UConn being in the AAC was, at least most AAC schools were in or reasonably close to mid to large size cities with some direct flights from/to BDL. Imagine Gonzaga's players enjoying their many 1/2 to full cross-country flights.

EDIT: deleted reference to Spokane's airport (GEG) only having 1 direct flight to any NBE city after HooperScooper shared Gonzaga hoops travels by charter.

 

[Tenspro2002]

This is a slam dunk yes.

Gonzaga is perennial top 10, at worst top 20. It's worth making the trip once a year. Their travel schedule would be awful, but that's not my problem.

If it's adding Gonzaga plus 2 others, I'm still OK with it as long as they're programs with rich basketball history. St. Mary's would be fine as a travel partner.

As far as East Coast schools: Temple? Davidson? This is where I'd want to be more discerning.

 

[navery12]

If St. Mary's was in that deal, you consider it. Past 5 years' average on KP = 37. Zags keep their rivalry, BE gets a fairly regular tourney team (8x since 2005 vs our 10x).

I think it makes a lot more sense to do it this way with both coming. Send 2 teams out west to play a Wednesday/Saturday game against each. Makes the travel a little more bearable to play 2 games versus 1

 

[UConnSwag11]

In 3 years if Gonzaga does join, what will the end of the regular season standings look like?